Randomality
by Corrupted Desires
Summary: Random events that take place during, before, after and around the Animality Series.
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer:** The characters, for the most part, along with the places and other random things found in this segment all belong to someone else. I just play with them, so suing won't get you anything but and old hairbrush and some nailclippers. This is also the only time I will have a disclaimer here...

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Welcome to the wonderful world of Randomality! This is just a minor introductory chapter to explain a few things. Now, on with the explaining!

Randomality is a series of events and scenes that take place randomly through the entire Animality series. Written in no specific order, these scenes will add a bit more information to the series as well as give me a bit of a peace as the ideas have been nagging my muse for a while...

Each scene will have a bit of a brief author's note explaining which part of the series it would have been in as well as why it never made it into the final write. Some reasons may be a bit obscure, heck even some scenes might be a bit obscure! But in all, I hope that people will enjoy Randomality as much as my muse!

Because of the nature of Randomality, there is absolutely no plans for ever really adding a new chapter or even ending the story. So this means it could be two chapters or it could be a hundred chapters. It really just depends on my muse. Now, I suppose I had better go post the first Randomality chapter...

Love, Penny

aka Corrupted Desires

aka ji

P.S. - On to the randomness!


	2. Always Wanted

**A/N:** This scene would have appeared in _Chips of Chocolate_ if I hadn't changed my mind about the way I wanted the story to run. It also has a tie in with my fic _Playgrounds, Balls and Promises Kept_ for those of you familiar with my story list. While I am only just posting it here, it has made an appearance on the livejournal community Books & Freckles where I originally posted it... It didn't go very well there, mostly because they didn't really have a clue about the Animality Series. Anyway...

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Seven year old Charlie Weasley yawned, stretching out as much as he could. He carefully rubbed the sleep from his eyes before rolling out of bed and hitting the floor with a soft thud. Stumbling blearily into the bathroom, he took care of business. After washing his hands, Charlie glanced into the mirror at his reflection.

"AHHHHHH!" Stumbling backwards, Charlie tripped over something and went sprawling on his back. He yelped in pain several times and curled up in a protective ball.

After a few minutes in which he realized that the creature in the mirror wasn't going to jump through and get him, Charlie opened his eyes. Opening his eyes revealed darkness, it took him a few moments to realize that he had his hands in front of his face and he moved them back only to open his eyes wide as he stared at his hands.

Expecting to see his normal pale, freckled skin and fingers, Charlie's eyes were met with hands that were blue! The skin was a rich blue. The color of blue that you found on the sky to the east just as the sun was starting to set on a clear day. Not only was his skin blue, but he had dark blue freckles! And his fingers... They were tipped in sharp claws!

Gasping, Charlie scrambled to his feet... Feet that he noticed didn't look like human feet! They were more like the kind of feet he remembered seeing on a dragon picture a few weeks ago. And blue! So much blue... He whirled in place, something smacking into the wall behind him and earning another soft yelp. He twisted to look behind him at his... Tail?

Finding the three feet long appendage that tapered to a point before flaring into a spade shape and was attached to the top of his butt only led Charlie to the discovery of the fact that he had wings! Willing the wings to move, Charlie couldn't help but grin when they complied. Turning once more, Charlie climbed easily onto the bathroom counter to stand in front of the large mirror.

Charlie finally remembered as he looked at himself. Yesterday. He had been playing in a room full of kids, one of which he recognized as his older brother Bill, when two men had entered. The men were twins with red hair claiming to be his baby brothers Fred and George. He was still doubtful of that, since Fred and George were still being potty trained as far as his memory told him.

In any event, Charlie had learned that apparently he had willingly taken a potion that turned him into a part-dragon before accidentally taking something that had turned him into a kid. While the men claiming to be his brothers had told him that he was supposed to be in his mid-twenties, Charlie just couldn't remember being anything more than seven.

As he remembered, Charlie inspected his reflection. He wasn't wearing a shirt, probably because of the wings, and the baggy shorts were adjusted to allow for his tail. Flexing, Charlie was impressed with the amount of muscles his little animalistic body possessed. He bared his teeth at his reflection, startling himself when he saw the sharp teeth in his tiny muzzle. He grinned and that looked even more frightening.

The strangest part, in his opinion, wasn't that he was blue. It wasn't that his eyes were red and seemed to burn with fire. It wasn't that he had small ridges along his spine or the wings. It wasn't that the older Fred and George said that his nickname was FireEye. It wasn't the horns on his head or the tail and claws... The strangest part, as far as Charlie was concerned, was that his once bright red Weasley hair was dark blue.

Ruffling the dark blue locks, Charlie grinned at his reflection again before hopping off the counter. Dashing out of the bathroom, he went to inspect the place that one of the other boys he had met yesterday, the one that said his name was Sirius Black, had said was the Black Family home.

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After a day of hard play, play in which little he and the other kids had gotten in big trouble, Charlie sneaked out of the bedroom he was sharing with Bill, the boy named Sirius Black, another boy claiming to have the same name as his father; Arthur Weasley, a boy called Severus Snape and another one that said his name was Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Who would name their kid something like that, anyway? At any rate, Charlie slipped from the room he shared with the other boys.

While Charlie had slept a bit, Bill snored and it was hurting his sensitive ears. The house was eerily quiet as he literally glided down the stairs to avoid the creaky steps. Wandering around, Charlie eventually found himself outside the doors to the library. He grinned to himself, remembering the loud party that the kids had held within that room earlier in the day.

Slowly opening the library doors, Charlie slipped inside and looked around. The adults George had called earlier had done a good job of wand cleaning the mess they had made and the portrait of Sirius' mother was sleeping behind her curtains.

Charlie was about to leave when a soft sound from one of the chairs caught his attention. Turning, he saw one of the girls about his own age sitting on a chair. She had a large book spread out on her lap and was carefully flipping the pages. He recognized her as one of his fellow Henchmen and smiled.

During their game earlier that day, the game that had gotten them in trouble, Queen Minnie, aka Minerva McGonagall, had named Charlie one of her Henchmen. The Queen's other Henchman was a little bear of a boy named Neville Longbottom. The two Henchmen shared their duties when two Henchwomen, Hermione Granger and Nymphadora Tonks. Fred and George, at least the men that claimed to be the twins, had said their names were Rumble, Wildcat and Shift. The girl sitting on the chair was Wildcat.

It was easy to see how she had gotten the nickname. Like Charlie, the seven year old Hermione Granger had a part-animal form. She had been a normal girl when he first saw it, but had learned earlier that she could turn into some kind of cat. She was taller and more muscular in her cat form with a long furry tail. She had tawny golden peach style fuzz on her body and her eyes were a sparkling amber. Rounded feline ears could barely be seen from the very wild, creamy brown curls.

As Charlie watched, she carefully turned another page so as not to tear it with her claws. He grinned and cleared his throat before walking over. "Hey Wildcat."

Hermione jumped a bit, startled. After a moment she returned the grin. "Couldn't sleep either, FireEye?"

Charlie shook his head, wandering closer to her chair. "Nah, my brother Bill snores too much."

"Same here. Only it was Queen Minnie snoring."

Both snickered at the thought of their 'Queen' snoring loud enough to wake people.

Finding a book on dragons that Hermione had earlier discarded, Charlie seated himself on the floor in front of her chair and started looking at the pictures. "I'm going to work with dragons when I grow up." He confided after a moment or two.

Chewing on her lip in thought, Hermione nodded. "I didn't know dragons were real until I saw these books." After another silence she made a confession. "I've always wanted a dragon."

Since the accident turning them into children had messed with their memories, Hermione didn't know she was a witch. At least she didn't know until she had woken up to find herself with nineteen other kids, some of which obviously weren't human, and a scary man the twins had called 'Meanie Moody.' She still hadn't believed until one of the twins had made a ginger-furred kitten float. But it wasn't until she had gotten mad and turned into a half-cat creature herself that she truly believed.

"I could be your dragon."

Startled from her train of thought, Hermione blinked down at Charlie. Her eyes were wide in disbelief. "What?"

Charlie's freckled blue cheeks turning a bit purple as he blushed. "Well, just... You know. Until you can get a real dragon." His entire face was turning purple by now.

Hermione carefully took in Charlie's appearance. He did seem to be a dragon. Carefully, she reached out to brush her fuzzy fingers along the curve of one of his wings. Her amber eyes flickered to a deep chocolate brown for a moment as she had a vague memory of a red-head promising her a dragon flash through her brain. "Really?"

"Sure." Charlie nodded. "Might be fun to pretend to be a pet dragon for a while." He gave her a cheesy grin.

Smiling brightly, Hermione barely had time to put her book aside before she pounced the dragon-boy into a big hug. "Thanks FireEye! This will be so much fun!"

Right about then, the sound of a throat clearing drew their attention. Turning, the two part animals saw one of the twins standing in the doorway. There was a strange look of pain, mostly in his eyes, that confused them before it was gone.

"Shouldn't you two be in bed?" The twin, neither of the two could tell which it was, frowned as they put their books away. "You'll be lucky if you don't get into more trouble for this..."

The twin escorted them to their rooms, the strange pain flashing through his eyes once more when Hermione waved goodnight to Charlie. "Night-night, my dragon!"

"G'night, Wildcat!"

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Later, in the room he currently shared with just his twin, Fred told George what he had seen. George's expression matched the one on his twin's face.

"Hopefully that won't change things between **us** when they're back to normal..."

Settling down for some much needed rest, the twins couldn't help but feel a sense of loss at the missing third in their large bed...


	3. To Fly or Not To Fly

**A/N:** This Randomality tidbit takes place during the Prologue of _Apprentice_. I hope it explains why Hermione didn't have any fear of flying in the trip to the Marauders' Era that she took with Harry. Enjoy!

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"This is absolutely ridiculous!"

"Oh come off it, Hermione. You don't expect us to believe that you never planned on using the gift that the Firebolt company gave you, do you?" Harry Potter raised a skeptical brow at his best female friend.

"Of course I was going to use it…" At the incredulously looks from her two best friends, Hermione sighed. "I was going to hang it over the mantel." Her smile was bright and cheerful.

"Hermione Jane Granger!" Ron Weasley gasped in horror. "Only _you_ would take a special edition Firebolt and turn it into a mantelpiece!"

Harry nodded his head, agreeing with Ron. "We are definitely going to have to teach you to fly."

The fright on the faces of her two friends was not enough to deter them from their new goal.

"Besides, Granger… You don't have a choice."

The new voice drew the attention of the famous Golden Trio and they turned to look into the silver eyes of a snow-white wolf. The wolf was lying on the ground watching them, ears perked forward and a malicious look in his beautiful gaze.

"What do you mean, Moonshine?" Hermione's tone was wary as she asked the question.

The telepathic reply managed to be both sympathetic and mocking at the same time. "Haven't you read up on our Auror training? Mounted combat skills are a requirement. And it starts next month..."

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Aside from one disastrous lesson in which Ron landed in the Auror Training Facility's Infirmary for a day, Hermione managed to avoid anything involving a broom. Her luck ran out when the Trainees were ordered to report at 09:00 hours on a beautiful Monday morning for mounted combat lessons to begin… With their brooms in hand!

Her evil glare at Harry as he handed her the golden Special Edition Firebolt could have melted a hole in steel. The-Boy-Turned-Man-Who-Continued-To-Live-Despite-Too-Many-Stupidly-Long-Names thwarted yet another attempt on his life with a dazzling smile that reflected the Glare-Of-Death and sent Hermione into an impressive sulk. On top of that, Ron insisted they do some stupid pose with their broom handles touching to form a triangle. How he had managed to talk them into the little cheer was completely beyond Hermione's understanding, but next thing she knew, they were in the stupid pose and giving some really ridiculous cheer. Which just happened to be when Draco Malfoy and the other Auror Trainees in their class entered the room. It didn't take long for Draco to get everyone in on laughing at the Trio.

Just another day in the life of the Saviors of the Wizarding World…

An hour later, the Trainees were all lined up, brooms in hand, wands in their wrist-holsters and waiting for instructions. The brooms were all new, anywhere from the polished ebony of the Nimbus 2001 to the sleek mahogany shade of the traditional Firebolts and everything in between. The only distinctive handles were the polished gold color of the three Special Edition Firebolts.

The Trainer for this class was, surprisingly enough, Nymphadora Tonks. The metamorphmagus had proven in times past that her seeming clumsy behavior was a diversionary tactic and allowed opponents to easily underestimate her abilities when it came to real combat, so the Trainees were paying close attention to her instructions. Most of the Trainees had at one time or another played some form of Quidditch, so the fact that they would be using their wands while flying one handed wasn't completely foreign. Others such as… Well, all the other students had experience in some form of flying, so Hermione Granger was all alone in not knowing how she was going to handle this aspect of training.

"Now, we all know what to do when we're on a broom, and we all know how to shoot spells. The whole point of this aspect of training is so that you can fire difficult spells _with accuracy_ while flying at high speeds. I can't tell you how useful this ability is when you're in a risky situation and a quick air strike is the only safe plan of attack." Tonks walked back and forth in front of the Trainees. Finally she stopped in front of Hermione and stared the younger witch in the eye. "Off the ground and warm up. Trainee Granger, wait just a moment…"

As the other Trainees took off Harry, Ron and Draco warmed up and then drifted their brooms closer, looking down. They watched as Hermione and Tonks spoke to each other.

"You don't think she's going to wash out of the training at this point, do you?" Harry seemed worried, they had already devoted over a year of their lives to becoming Aurors.

Ron snorted. "As stubborn as she is?" Then a concerned look flitted over his face as he saw Hermione move to mount her broom. "Hey… You don't think they're going to force her to do it, do you?"

"I wouldn't think so… I'm told my cousin has a great record for teaching hesitant Trai-" Draco trailed off when they saw Hermione kick off into the air and start zipping around as if she had been flying for years.

Jaws dropped, the three boys watched their friend fly around the course at the breakneck speed of a normal Firebolt. Then the jaws hit the floor when they saw her reach up the handle of her broom and seem to stroke the wood before she shot off so fast around the course that she nearly created a sonic boom! By the time she pulled her broom to a stop right in front of the boys and gave them a smirk, everyone was watching the scene.

"Bu…Wuh… How?" Ron seemed incapable of completing a proper sentence.

Harry's eyes were bugged out behind his glasses. "'Mione! How in the world did you get the Firebolt to go that fast!"

Hermione's smug look spoke volumes. "Don't tell me you didn't bother to read the manual the Firebolt Company sent with the brooms…" She gave a laugh and whipped out her wand before flying over to where Tonks was starting the lesson.

"That's impossible!" Draco burst out as soon as the shock wore off. "She was horrid! How could she go from being a danger to others to Professional Quidditch Player skills!" He seemed more outraged than anything else. After all, he'd been flying for years and now someone that shouldn't have been able to even stay on a broom had shown him up!

For the rest of the Mounted Combat lessons, all three boys harassed Hermione to find out how she had suddenly learned to fly like a professional. Each time she was asked, she merely laughed them off and asked if they had done their required reading material. Needless to say, they didn't get many answers from their friend.

Three months later, when the group completed their required Mounted Combat course… The course that they learned involved being mounted on brooms, horses, various pegasi, thestrals, dragons - with the help of the Romanian Dragon Preserve Colony, motorcycles and inside cars, the boys finally learned the answer to the question that had plagued them from the start.

"All right, Hermione." Ron, Draco and Harry had cornered her in the Trainee common room. "How did Tonks teach you how to fly in less than ten minutes when we've spent years trying?"

"Well, Ronald." Hermione's tone was at her bossy, know-it-all best. "It is rather amazing just what can be accomplished with a modified calming draught and a shared memory thread."

At the stunned looks her reply received, Hermione picked up her book on Equines and headed into her dorm.

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**A/N:** I was going to say something about some part of the story here… But I forgot what I was going to say. So, still saving for a new computer. Hopefully by the end of February I should have one! 


	4. Blades

**A/N: **This segment takes place not too long after _Chips of Chocolate_ and just shows a random bit of fun that Hermione, Harry and Ron indulge in while they have less worries to hold them down.

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Not long after the classes resumed following the defeat of Voldemort, the young man that had been given the majority of the credit for said defeat was currently trying to bargain with one of his best friends. Harry Potter, with the dubious assistance of his best friend Ron Weasley, was attempting to convince their other best friend Hermione Granger that Hogwarts was the perfect place… For rollerblading!

"Come on, Hermione… This place would be great for stunts and getting air time!" Harry had gotten his first pair of rollerblades for Christmas and had become rather obsessed with the relatively simple pastime. So much so in fact, that he had bought a Ron and Hermione each their own pairs.

At the moment Harry, Ron and Hermione were standing outside of the Gryffindor Common Room. Both Harry and Ron were wearing their rollerblades; Harry's were black with silver lightning bolts on the sides while Ron's were black with golden coins on the sides. Hermione was wearing her normal school shoes and had her arms crossed as she glared at the pair of black skates with red claw slashes decorating the sides.

"Absolutely not!"

Hermione should have known something was up when she came down from the girls' dormitory that morning to find that Harry and Ron apparently wanted to have breakfast in the common room. The boys had a full spread on the coffee table in front of the fire and had waved her over eagerly. Yet somehow she hadn't expected them to accost her as she emerged to head down to potions class with the boys wanting to try their skates going down from the seventh floor to the dungeons!

"But Hermione…" Ron's pleading tone did little to sway his friend. "Just turn into your half form and use your wicked cat balance!"

A rather good argument actually, but… "And just what am I supposed to do if the stairs change going down? Sprout wings and fly to safety?" Hermione's tone was rather nasty, though both boys had the decency to look guilty. After all, they could do just that thanks to Snape completing the Animality potion.

Though Harry retained his guilty look, lowering Hermione's rollerblades, Ron's expression had grown derisive. "Fine, c'mon Harry. Should have known she wasn't Gryffindor enough to try this kind of thing…"

Harry's jaw nearly dropped. He couldn't believe Ron would pull that card when there was a serious threat to someone's well being involved. Hearing a grinding sound, he turned and found that Hermione's face had gone red and she was grinding her teeth in suppressed anger. A moment later Harry and Ron both yelped and skated back as Hermione's wand whipped out with lightning reflexes.

It was an unspoken code that developed over the years of living in Gryffindor. When someone challenges your Gryffindor status, you _had_ to respond. Hermione may have overlooked the comment if it had just been the three of them, but students had been filtering out of the Common Room to race to a quick, late breakfast or start on their way to whatever class they had first. In any event, Ron's challenge had been overheard by a mixed group of Gryffindor seventh, sixth and fourth years that included, but was not limited to, both Creevey boys, Ginny, Dean, and Seamus.

The group had paused upon hearing Ron's scathing challenge of Hermione's Gryffindor status and the sudden wielding of Hermione's wand. After all, seeing if a challenge were accepted and if Hermione would hex Ron's nose to switch places with some other part of his anatomy were both worthy items to stop and observe. After a momentary standoff, Hermione flicked her wand expertly and the skates vanished from Harry's hand to be replaced with a suddenly taller Hermione's shoes. That was when the others got the idea of what was going on.

Another flick of Hermione's wand and her school skirt transfigured into a pair of shorts even as she adjusted the size of her skates and shifted into her half-breed cougar form. Hermione gave one last scathing look at both Harry and Ron before pushing herself forward. She snatched her shoes and put them in her satchel before transfiguring the satchel itself into a more appropriate backpack.

Scowling at all the Gryffindors in the hallway, Hermione gave a pointed look to the other two of the famous trio. "Well? Are you ready to break about fifty school rules?" Without waiting for a reply, Hermione took off toward the main stairs… The main _moving_ stairs!

Giving a yelp of surprise, Ron and Harry started after their friend in time to watch her expertly jump down the entire set of stairs to land on the next landing. The two boys stopped in awe as they watched Hermione jump up onto the rail of the next set of stairs and slide down the rail with a expertise that made both boys wonder… Picking their jaws up off the floor, Harry and Ron both cheated so that they wouldn't lose sight of Hermione as she jumped a gap between a suddenly moving stair and the fourth floor landing.

Shifted into their half-forms, Ron and Harry attempted not to lose their skates as they glided down to the fourth floor where Hermione had disappeared. They knew without asking that she was using one of the fourth floor's many secret passages. Changing back into their human forms at the fourth floor landing, Harry and Ron took off on their own skates, heading for the nearest set of passages. They rounded a corner in time to see their female friend's tail whipping into a tunnel that would take her to the main floor and followed.

Minutes later, the male portions of the Golden Trio were racing around startled classmates across the ground floor of Hogwarts. The stairs heading to the dungeons were soon and, knowing there was a curve, both boys slowed down and took the stairs at a teeth-rattling, bumping gait down into the bowels of the castle. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, both boys were rethinking the idea of skating around the school and soon reached the final stretch to Potions just in time to see Hermione shrinking her blades and tucking them into her satchel.

Pulling up to their friend, Ron seemed awed as he watched Hermione turned back into her human form and transfigure her skirt back to normal. "How in the bloody hell did you do _that_ so fast?"

Hermione raised a brow as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. After a moment she finally answered. "How in the world do you think I've always managed to race from the library to arrive just in time for classes over the last six and a half years?"

Leaving her best friends speechless, Hermione put on her best prim-and-proper expression and walked into class.

**-Fin-**

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**A/N:** I'm dedicating this chapter to my brother whose recent obsession with rollerblading made me think of how fun it could be to blade around in Hogwarts and allowed me to write my first completed bit of nothing since February! PS: Please do _not_ attempt stunts on rollerblades unless you've got safety equipment, slowly build up to it and please, for the love of all things, do NOT attempt to rollerblade down a set of _moving_ staircases! 


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